Web Content for the Further Development of the Centre for Community Engaged Learning

1. Web Content for the Further Development of the Centre for Community Engaged Learning By Cheryl Rowland, Allie Relkoff, Karla Watson, Meaghan Lawrence For Community partner, Erin Kaipainen and COMS 463 Instructor, Dr. Tania Smith CONTEXT • As part of a COMS 463 class studying rhetoric, professional communication, and web writing, the team created web content for the CCEL website in a service-learning course.The CCEL wanted web material that would help them educate students and faculty at the U of C about the CCEL, and service-learning opportunities on campus. • To respond to a lack of information about service-learning opportunities, we created content that would: • Educateusers about CSL (Community Service-Learning) • Encourage users to explore resources at CCEL resources • Persuade audience to get involved in CSL courses at the U of C • We did this by supplying information about CSL courses offered, instructor information, student experience KEY ASPECTS OF CONTENT DEVELOPED LEARNING OUTCOMES • Our content was most effective in the following two ways: • Proper Use of Voice when addresses various combinations of target audiences • Aesthetics and Page Organization to draw the user in and allow easy access to information • As a team, we: • Developed flexibility in delegation to overcome shortages in human resources. • Experienced the use of online software tools, such as Zoho, to collaborate, coordinate, and update our team. • Gained practical and theoretical knowledge regarding professional communication and the history and function of the CCEL by working with our instructor and community partner. • Leveraged the strengths of each team member to create the best work possible while learning from one another in the process. • PROPER USE OF VOICE • The Student Experience pages, were voiced by a more casual tone to fit the attitude of the more youthful audience. We created content that was both simple and engaging for the students to read., yet maintained a tone of professionalism. • The Professor Profiles pages, were tailored the voice to fit a more mature and academic audience. A few way we achieved these different voices was through specific word choice and sentence structure. • Our overall voice for our web content could be branded as approachable and advisable, to fit the inviting and helpful tone of our work. We maintained this voice while keeping our content engaging and professional. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT NAVIGATION MODEL • Student Experience Pages: • Situate the two lists of links side-by-side in a corresponding order for more visible appeal and easier user navigation. • Curricular Page: • Create additional drop down menus or columns of text to incorporate the Studentsand Instructors navigational pages into the curricular page. • Course pages: • Integrate the prerequisites into the course description by providing a sub-heading of prerequisites and a brief list of the required courses. • Provide links to previous course syllabi in PDF documents to give students a brief outline of the expectations of the course • Instructor Pages: • Create links for contact information for ease of navigation. Each aspect of the instructor's profile link box should be hyperlinked appropriately • AESTHETICS AND PAGE ORGANIZATION • Headings were used in our pages so the reader could visually understand the subject matter of our pages and breakdown the information on the page for an easier flow of information . • Bullet lists used are both functional and aesthetically pleasing for the eye. We utilized this tool to help the reader understand what points are important. • Featured images added visual interest as well to give the page a more appealing aesthetic. • *Refer to the right for an example of these features